Vermont Seasons | Featured Photographer Nathanael Asaro

What’s your connection to New England?

I was born on Long Island and moved to an old farmhouse in Cambridge, Vermont, when I was four years old. Later my family moved to Greensboro Bend, and then built a house in Craftsbury. I grew up living an active outdoor lifestyle. I spent a lot of time hiking, canoeing, snowboarding, nordic skiing, camping and helping my parents build a timber frame home. I attended wilderness camps and developed a love for nature at an early age. We stacked firewood and picked apples in the fall and spent summers at pristine lakes and rivers. Winters were spent snowboarding at Stowe. Early spring was the muddy time of year when we had to walk up our road in rubber boots because the mud was too treacherous to drive in.

Vermont is a special place, and living here makes you appreciate simple comforts like the warmth of a fire after being out in the cold or the song of the wood thrush echoing through the forest on a warm summer evening. The changing of the seasons bring new wonders to marvel over and learn from, making each season unique. I love traveling and experiencing new things, but Vermont is where my heart is and where I feel at home.

What equipment do do you use?

I earned my BFA in photography from Burlington College in 2016 and have shot for and licensed my work to many publishing companies while also working with brands, taking product and lifestyle images.

I shoot with a Nikon D810 and three lenses, a 50mm,  a 16-35mm, and a 70-300mm. I choose my lens based on the subject and what I am trying to capture. I shoot with a tripod whenever possible to reduce noise and get depth in my landscapes, but I also enjoy the freedom of movement when taking images handheld. I try and keep a good balance between the two.

What inspires you?

I spend a lot of time scouting. I have a road map that I mark with locations that catch my eye when I am out driving around Vermont. I am inspired by dramatic light and changes in weather. Sunrise and sunset are the most inspiring times of day for me, as they are for many photographers. I pay attention to the weather and the location of the sun. Doing this helps me pre-visualize where the light might fall on the scene. I spend a lot of time camping and that provides me the opportunity to be in remote or scenic locations at the best times of day. Overall, I gain my greatest inspiration from the wild land and scenery of Vermont that I love so dearly.

This series of work embraces what Vermont means to me. I hope to give you glimpse of how I see the state throughout the seasons. I generally shy away from captions, so that the scenes maintain a feeling of mystery. My hope is to convey moments that feel like a dream and bring you to another place—moments where life is much bigger than the individual, and time and place stand still.

To see more of Nathanael’s work, go to nathanaelasaro.com or follow him on Instagram at@nathanaelasaro.

VERMONT SEASONS

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